Breaking: Monaco confirms Thomas Lemar deal

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Arsenal have reportedly given up on signing Thomas Lemar this summer because they’ve been priced out of the running.

Arsenal have been heavily linked with a move for Lemar this summer with talks said to be ongoing for weeks.

After having bids of £30m, £40m and £45m reportedly turned down by Monaco, it was claimed by Sky Sports that the Ligue 1 club were holding out for £50m. Although some sources said it was £60m.

According to the Daily Mirror, Arsenal were willing to pay this yet it still wasn’t enough.

Therefore, the Gunners have apparently dropped their interest in the 21-year-old.

The winger scored 14 and assisted 17 goals last season. He’s a talent, for sure, but considering Arsenal just paid £52m for Alexandre Lacazette, who’s a 26-year-old proven goalscorer with the best conversion rate in Europe. Are they really going to pay around the same amount of a youngster who, while immensely promising, still has a lot of developing to do?

This is Arsene Wenger, after all. While he’s not the tight-fisted dictator people seem to think he is, he’s still a businessman.

Jack Wilshere, Carl Jenkinson, Kieran Gibbs, Joel Campbell, Mathieu Debuchy and Lucas Perez are all being linked with moves away from north London this summer and freeing up some wages isn’t the worse idea if we’re going to tie at least Mesut Ozil down to a new, improved deal.